Legal Profile: Nick ‘Ultimate Fighting Lawyer’ Thompson
In July, we wrote a post on How Not To Spend the Week Before the Bar Exam. A University of Minnesota law grad, Nick “The Goat” Thompson, had been featured in a Sports Illustrated article on an ultimate fighting EliteXC tournament broadcast on CBS. Thompson had lost his match, but had a good excuse: studying for the bar exam had likely cut into his training time. He took the Minnesota bar two days after the match.
We forgot about this article until last month, when his wife e-mailed us to share the good news that Thompson had passed the bar (as did 89% of test takers.)
We talked to Nick last weekend about what’s it like to be a professional mixed martial arts fighter, esquire. Find out how he’s combining ultimate fighting with a law degree, after the jump.
Thompson wrestled in high school and as an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. During his junior year of college, he went on a date to see an ultimate fighting match, and he was hooked. (On the ultimate fighting and the girl — they got married in October 2007). He started driving two hours to Milwaukee each week to train with a coach there, as well as working with an amateur group in Madison.
Also called mixed martial arts (or “human cock-fighting” by John McCain), ultimate fighting is a full-contact, combat sport that combines kicking, kneeing, punching, elbowing, stomping, holding and throwing. Victory is decided by judges based on points, or awarded after one fighter concedes or is knocked out.
“I was terrible for the first two years. But in my third year, I started getting good. The coach pulled me aside, and said I should think about fighting seriously,” Thompson said. This was around the same time Thompson became a 1L at the University of Minnesota Law School, a natural next step for the philosophy and economics major with a family tradition in law — his mother is a public defender and his stepfather is a judge.
During law school, he spent 20-30 hours per week at the gym training for ultimate fighting, and the rest of the time studying. No bars. Few friends. And no summer associate positions. He used an Excel program to keep track of his days down to half-hour segments. In April 2007, he had to skip his Advanced Corporations final exam to fight in a match in Russia. He won the BodogFIGHT Welterweight title, and got an “A” or “B” on the makeup exam.
“Nick would walk down the hallway with black eyes and a broken nose. The students who didn’t know him would say, ‘Whatever firm he works for, I don’t want to go there,’” said Adam Hansen, 28, a classmate who is now clerking for Minnesota Supreme Court chief justice Eric Magnuson.
Thompson says: “When I tell people I am a ultimate fighter, I have to hear about every bar fight they’ve ever been in. If they met Randy Moss, would they tell him about their high school football days?”
Thompson currently fights in the Japanese Sengoku league, often in front of 50,000 person crowds in Tokyo. With 4-6 fights per year at $20,000 to $80,000 per fight (depending on whether he wins or loses), he’s been faring better than he would have in first year Biglaw.
But that law degree was not for naught. He is being courted by Henson & Efron, a Minneapolis law firm with a burgeoning sports entertainment practice. If he takes the job, Thompson wants to work part-time, representing ultimate fighters and other athletes in contract negotiations and promotions. He still needs time for matches, not to mention six hours daily at the gym six days a week.
There is a lawyer-athlete precedent at the University of Minnesota. Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Alan Page attended the law school full-time in the 1970s while playing professional football for the Vikings. After retiring from football in 1981, Page went on to become Minnesota’s assistant attorney general, and is now an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Law and ultimate fighting are not so different, says Thompson. “In both, you’re looking for weakness in your opponent. One’s physical, and the other’s mental.”
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Comments
first aka "that guy"
Nick Thompson is awesome. And this is very well-written, Kash.
Eventually he'll get too old to fight. At that point he could either retire from fighting and become a trainer or use his law degree full-time. Not a bad plan.
first aka "that guy"
Don't know what's worse - UFC or MinnesoTTTa?
Nick Thompson is weak . I could take him on any day.
This guy's not half bad, but isn't the EliteXC company now defaunct? I heard about this guy a little while ago on http://www.outlines.com/
Too long. Didn't read.
/Dealbreaker
Thompson is quoted as using the term, but "ultimate fighting" is not the correct usage. Call it mixed martial arts or MMA.
This guy is actually a very skilled fighter, I heard about him a little while ago on http://www.outlines.com/. But isn't that EliteXc compnay now bankrupt or something?
This guy is actually a very skilled fighter, I heard about him a little while ago on http://www.outlines.com/. But isn't that EliteXc compnay now bankrupt or something?
easily
Elite XC went bankrupt after Kimbo lost, but there are numerous other promotions he could fight in. He's definitely talented enough. 6 you wouldn't last 2 minutes.
I would think twice about fucking with him at a deposition
* wants to human cock-fight with Elie..oh, I mean, um....... *
-nervous T-10 1L
email job leads to nervoust101l@yahoo.com
EliteXC is gone, but he's probably making better money fighting in Japan anyways. This stuff (MMA)has been huge there for much longer than here, and draws some massive crowds. Big events for things like K-1 and PRIDE drew US football-sized crowds.
Mystal would fight him ...... if he was a ham sandwich.
Pride was going bankrupt too before UFC bought them out,
Minnesota: Please don't fly over us, even punch drunk hacks can pass our bar!
Pride was going bankrupt too before UFC bought them out,
This guy does not hold a candle to the most ultimate of ultimate MMA pride fighters, MANBEARPIG.
I think I saw Kimbo Slice taking night classes at GW.
He may make more money than a first year associate at big firms, but he probably has many more expenses. Training for MMA is ridiculously expensive. After that, he probably takes home a paltry sum. I'm not knocking the guy, though. Pretty frickin' awesome that he's following his dream and has a career to fall back on in a few years.
This is awesome, I always thought UFC was for morons! Boy was I wrong!
I think I may have just found my calling
Nervous drug addled T-100 2L
Email fight challenges to puffpuffpass@yahoo.com
Awesome story, and awesome Zubaz pants. Good luck to Mr. Thompson
PS: Really? You're an ultimate fighter? Hey, do you ever get in barfights? Like, do people mess with you not knowing that you're an ultimate fighter until---surprise!--you kick their ass? I'm no ultimate fighter, but there are few people who've started with me who probably think I am!
One time I was in Boston and---get this, I shit you not---some guy wearing a Yankees hat and a Red Sox T-Shirt told me I looked like a douchebag. Well, you can guess what happened next................................................................
Interesting post - thanks Kash.
Kash, I must quibble:
The sport is called "mixed martial arts," not "ultimate fighting," which is just UFC's marketing brand.
MMA Geek
22- Actually, it's GULC
I thought I was the only one who was gonna bring it up 29, well played
I was friends with Nick in law school - he's a great guy and doesn't take himself too seriously (examples include the Zubaz featured in one of the above photos, as well as a sweet "gunch-beard" [where you shave everything except for what grows on your neck and underneath your chin] he once grew and sported in one of his fights). I hope he does well going forward, he already has many great connections in the MMA world.
I was friends with Nick in law school - he's a great guy and doesn't take himself too seriously (examples include the Zubaz featured in one of the above photos, as well as a sweet "gunch-beard" [where you shave everything except for what grows on your neck and underneath your chin] he once grew and sported in one of his fights). I hope he does well going forward, he already has many great connections in the MMA world.
This guy deserves a lot of respect. MMA is one of the hardest sports out there, and he made it through law school while competing. Very impressive.
hate to nitpick, but milwaukee is 5 hours from Minneapolis, not 2. Madison is 3.5-4 depending on how fast you drive
Meeeeowwwwww!
-Andrew Sullivan
Meeeeowwwwww!
-Brady Quinn
Interesting article and well written -- a rather pleasant change from the now-usual crap. Why isn't she EIC?
Yummy! Wish we had guys like him at my law school.
Check out the firm website. It has UFC news listed. Priceless.
See also: Bob Thomas, justice on the Illinois Supreme Court was a kicker for Da Bears
http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/110405aah.html
DA Bears!!!
35:
Madison is less than 90 minutes from Milwaukee, and if you read the piece you'll see it says he started driving to Milwaukee as an undergrad in MadTown.
Don't forget about Justice Byron White who was a pro football player before his days in the Kennedy Administration and on SCOTUS
Nick's a great guy - he was in my class as well as my first-year legal writing section. He won best oralist, not because he showed up with a broken nose and black eye (though it didn't hurt, I'm sure - he can definitely look scary). V. nice guy as well, wish him all the best!
This dude is cool . . . and ranked the 9th best MMA welterwight in the world by MMAWeekly.com.